Performing the Installation, 2019.
A performance-installation by the artist with guests. Image credit: Stefan Lux.
Moving Objects is a Virtual Reality (VR) environment in which participants can collaborate, create and develop performances within a virtual sculptural-installation. Within the VR environment, participants will be guided through a series of movement-scores that offer provocations and an invitation to move the sculptural objects around within the VR space. Each participant’s interpretation of the score and the gestures they develop will accumulate to form their own version of a performance and an installation which Lee refers to as a ‘performance-installation’.
Unlike many VR environments, the space and the sculptural objects found in Moving Objects are based on ‘real’ spaces and ‘real’ sculptural objects, and participants interaction with these objects follow in-real-life (IRL) gravitational and spatial parameters. However, within the virtual environment of Moving Objects none of the occupational health and safety concerns that usually plague interactive artworks apply, nor are there bystanders or a public audience.
One of the unique advantages of virtual reality is the internalised and isolated nature of the viewers experience. By removing the public aspect of interactive artwork and placing this experience within VR, Moving Objects creates an intimate and tailored journey for each participant.
This project extends a principal interest within Lee’s practice; finding ways to rupture or ‘break’ the perception of artworks being static objects on display. Enduring questions within her practice of performance-installation include; how to open-up the work to make potential state-changes visible to audiences without the performative, interactive element becoming a spectacle? And– is it possible for audiences to participate or interact with sculptural-installation works in a meaningful way?
By translating her work into virtual reality Lee hopes to share a more active version of the artwork. Previously performed iterations of the work along with examples of other artists performances and developments within the VR environment will be available to watch, forming an ongoing ‘active archive’ of performances and interactions that occurred within the virtual space.
Performing the Installation 2019, Film Still.
Guest performance (installation as score) by poet Markus Edelman in Performing the Installation. Image Credit: Andreas Müller.
Set Elements, 2019.
A performance-installation (installation as score) with guest Arabella Frahn-Starkie. Image Credit: Anne Moffat.
